1. Field of the Invention
The present general inventive concept relates to a printing system and a printing method providing a menu to change the printing options to conserve a developer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Developers, such as ink or toner, are consumable goods used by printers, and are relatively high-priced. Thus, printer users try to limit the consumption of the developers, to print more pages with the fixed amount of the developers. In response to the need to optimize the developer usage, a developer save function is provided to save the developer by lowering a printing density or by printing only outlines of texts.
FIG. 1 is a flowchart illustrating how a document is printed according to a conventional developer save function.
A printer controller (not shown) determines deficiency of a residual developer if the residual developer is below a predetermined reference amount (operation S10), and determines whether a developer save mode is set (operation S20). If the developer save mode is set, the printer controller lowers the amount of the developer attached onto a drum by lowering a developing voltage applied at a print section (not shown) so as to limit the amount of the developer consumed to print each page (operation S30). If the developer save mode is not set, the printing task is carried out according to a normal printing mode (operation S40).
According to the conventional approach, the developer save function is executed only when the developer save function is pre-set. If the user inputs a print command while the developer save mode is not pre-set, the printing task is conducted according to printing options previously set, without regard to the deficiency of the residual developer. Therefore, it is hard to answer properly and promptly to the deficiency of the developer.
In addition, when the residual developer is deficient, rather than lowering the printing density, it is more efficient to lower the print resolution, scale down the document, or print multiple pages per sheet (hereinafter, referred to as a N-up). A plurality of the printing options as described above can be combined. However, the conventional approach does not suggest a solution to positively change the printing options in a case of the deficiency of the residual developer.